Left Behind
by twinzees
Summary: Prequel to ANBU. When I was a genin, the wise Kakashi once said, "In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum."...I wish I had taken those words more seriously...SasuSaku
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: **_**If you haven't read **_**ANBU **_**already, don't worry about it. You can decide whichever fic to read first. If you have, I didn't put anything in here that would spoil anything in the sequel to this. I only took minor information from **_**ANBU **_**(if you read carefully) and put it into the plot.**

**I know I should be working on the next chapter for **_**ANBU**_**, but I had enough information from **_**ANBU**_** to start working on the prequel. My main priority is to finish **_**ANBU**_**, but I'm still going to try updating this story randomly. I am a VERY slow updater so I can't promise anything to you.**

**The reason why this story even exists is because some of my reviewers were questioning about Sasuke and Sakura's relationship in the past. And after a few months of brainstorming for a plot……..WHALAH! This story pops up. **

**This story is rated T for language and maybe some inappropriate scenes. I really hope you enjoy this!**

_**Disclaimer: **_**I do NOT own any characters in Naruto…if I did, I would be rich (which I'm not).**

**REMEMBER:**

**Thoughts: **_In the jungle._

**Dialogue: **"The mighty jungle."

**Normal: **The lion sleeps tonight.

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**Left Behind**

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By: twinzees

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**Chapter One**

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Gazing out of the enormous window, I watched in awe as the beautiful mid-afternoon sunrays disappeared behind thick patches of gray clouds. Right now, watching the sun disappear behind those thick bundles of dirty cotton brought some comfort to my currently stressed mood. Just by looking at those clouds, I knew it was going to rain soon. After all, it was pretty common for Konoha to get showers during the month of April. Snapping out of my thoughts, I anxiously glanced up at the tiny wooden clock perched on the wall to check the time.

_Oh no time's almost up! I really need to get back on this!_

Biting my lip, I turned my head back to my test and racked my exhausted brain for the answer. When nothing came to mind, I sighed in frustration and closed my eyes to calm myself. The only sounds that I heard were the scratching hundreds of pencils were making against the thick papers on the desks along with the ticking of the small clock that hung up on the wall to my right. Frowning slightly, I blocked out the distracting noises in the crowded test room and tried to concentrate on the only question I had left.

"Thirty seconds!" barked the plump black-haired supervisor as she eyed the exam-takers in the room from her desk.

_C'mon Sakura! Think! What is that special herb called?_

After a few more pushes through my memory, I finally remembered the answer and scribbled it down quickly.

"TIME!" bellowed the chubby woman with glasses as she stood and straightened her nurse uniform, "Now come here and turn in your papers, ladies and gentlemen."

Almost immediately, hundreds of other medical students rushed toward the front desk, relieved that the eight-hour test was finally over.

"And if I see one pencil in anybody's hands, every single person in this room will receive a zero…am I clear enough, Miyamaki-san?"

The young dark-haired man immediately dropped his pencil.

After straightening my white uniform, I got up and stretched my stiff muscles as I waited for the line to die down. When there was only a few left, I snatched my medical pouch and walked to where the exam supervisor was.

"Ah, Miss Haruno," greeted the stingy woman as she adjusted her glasses, "I presume you did well on the final?"

Nodding my head politely, I gave the brown-eyed woman a smile as I turned in my paper. "Yes, Satozumi-san," I confessed as I kept my smile, "Although I have to admit, it was challenging."

The heavy-set medic sniffed and straightened her posture. "That's a shame," the evil woman retorted, "I actually expected this test to be easy to the supposed 'brilliant' apprentice of the Godaime."

Resisting the urge to smack the middle-aged lady, I shrugged off her rude comment and quickly turned towards the door.

"Have a nice day." I said almost too sweetly as I went through my only exit.

I was going to leave the old bat like that, but decided against it. Spinning around, I leaned my head back into the classroom.

"I hope you have fun grading _all_ those papers," I stated in a voice that was too nice to be my own, "I would have volunteered to help, but I realized that there were more important things to do in the world."

After receiving the bitch's glare that could rival the devil's, I turned around and rushed back in the direction I was going in and snickered to myself. I realized that maybe making fun of the grader of my final exam wasn't such a smart idea, but then I shrugged it off, telling myself that a witch like her deserved a few smart-alec comments. Pushing open one of the double doors in the hallway, I walked briskly into the hospital lounge to get a cup of fresh, hot coffee. I knew my body needed it, especially after that tiresome exam. When I entered the room, I let out an irritating growl and shoved my way through a crowd of white suits.

_I guess I wasn't the only one craving caffeine…_

After pouring myself a large cup, I leaned against the marble counter and slowly drank the bitter beverage, letting the feeling of warm comfort wash over me as the liquid slid down my throat.

"Hey Sakura!" cried out a familiar voice.

Looking up, I spotted the figure of my best friend, Ino, waving at me while trying not to spill her coffee as she maneuvered through the crowd.

"Ino." I greeted, taking another sip out of the Styrofoam cup. "How did you do?"

The blue-eyed medic nin let out a snort and rolled her eyes at my question.

"Che, don't even ask...We all aren't born geniuses like you, Sakura!"

Shifting my weight to my other leg, I kept silent and mentally slapped myself for asking a question like that to piss off Miss Cranky Pants, who despises tests.

"So," I started again, trying to ease the atmosphere by changing the subject, "What are you going to do for the rest of the day?"

Setting her empty cup down, the tall Yamanaka grabbed her white nurse cap roughly and set it down on the counter. "Well, I'm first going to go home and change into more comfortable clothes, but after that I'll probably sleep." She answered as she took out the pins that kept her beautiful hair in a perfect bun, "What about you?"

Gulping down the last drop of warm coffee, I set the cup down next to hers and took off my own scratchy cap. "I'm going to head over to the grounds to watch my teammates."

The blonde-haired kunoichi blinked at my statement as she was pulling her hair into her usual high ponytail. "Do you think the exams are still going on this late in the afternoon?"

I gave her a shrug and pushed myself off the side of the counter, "I don't know, but knowing Naruto and Sasuke, the finals could last 'til midnight."

"True…" nodded my friend as she contemplated on my reasoning.

"Well," I said as I grabbed my cap and shoved it into my bag. "I've got to go now if I don't want to miss anything."

"Mm'kay." Ino mumbled as she snatched up our trash and threw it away. "I've got to go, too," she chirped enthusiastically as she clasped her hands together and leaned into it dramatically, "I'm going to cook for my hubby tonight!"

I could almost see the sparkles twinkle in her eyes.

"Poor Sai." I muttered under my breath, remembering the last time the recently married Yamanaka was let loose into a kitchen, my kitchen to be exact.

"See you around!" I shouted as I fought my way through bodies to reach the door.

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"Agh, damn it! Fuck this shit!"

(gasps)

Why would I, twenty-year-old Haruno Sakura, be screaming that in the middle of a public park filled with tons of kids no older than ten?

"How dare you! You really need to wash out that mouth of yours, young lady!"

"Yeah, you should be ashamed! Saying such language around these children!"

Well, to make things short, lets just say I was trying to take a nice little shortcut through the park and, before I knew it, this massive waterfall from nowhere starts to pour from the sky, soaking everything in sight. To make things even more dandy, I forgot my umbrella in my haste to make it in time for the exam this morning. And to express the joy for my stupidity in forgetting that stupid object, I let loose my famous temper, which, thankfully, escaped through my mouth and not my fists, in front of all these bitches.

_Brilliant. Just brilliant._

Ignoring the glares from all the women as they gathered up their wailing brats, I ripped off the clasp that was holding my once-perfect bun and shook my head. I was a mess. My shoes were soaked, my already uncomfortable uniform stuck to my skin, my whole body was shivering from the freezing rain bombarding my skin, and several strands of my wet hair stuck to both of my cheeks. Without looking back, I stormed off in the direction I was heading in, not caring what my appearance looked like because I knew it couldn't get any worse than this.

_Right?_

When I reached the streets of Konoha, a light breeze flew by, making every single hair on my arms stick up. Running a hand through my wet locks, I gripped my soaked bag tighter and made a sharp turn to the right, heading towards the stadium. As I strutted down the wide street, I felt the familiar tingling sensation flutter up and down my spine.

People were watching me.

Glancing around, I spotted a number of eyes staring at me as I passed by them. Grinding my teeth in annoyance, I started to hasten my pace.

_What is wrong with these people?!_

Because of my quick walking, I almost failed to see a small child trip in front of me. Halting instantly, I bent down to help up the motionless kid, who only stared up at me with his curious dark eyes. Before I could touch him, two hands quickly snatched the toddler and lifted him up. Looking up into the face of a woman, who I assumed was the mother, I could only blink in confusion as she gave me one look up and down my figure.

Before I could speak, she sent me a nasty glare and stormed off with her child, who was still looking at me. Scrunching up my eyebrows in puzzlement, I stared at the back of the dark-haired mother, ignoring the hungry looks a group of chuunin boys shot me as several rain drops dribbled down my face.

_Damn perverts! How can they eye me like that when I look like the devil's twin?_

Unconsciously tugging the leg-hugging skirt lower, I glanced down at myself and let out a gasp of shock. My black bra along with my matching underwear could be seen clearly through the thin white cotton uniform!

_Ugh! I knew I should've changed…Damn you Satozumi for making me wear this!_

Crossing my arms in front of my chest, I continued to make my way down the street, degrading myself for wearing my most comfortable undergarments for the test.

_Ugh, I'm so stupid! I've should've known white would show anything, especially when it's wet!_

Continuing to ignore the stares, I finally arrived at the arena, pushing through the crowd of civilians that started to pour out.

_Oh no! Am I too late?_

Once I made it into the stands, I stood on top of a seat and glanced down at the fields. It was completely destroyed. Hundreds of craters layered the grounds. Many parts of the once strong wall were dented and churned black, as if massive fire attacks hit it. There was no sign of green on the field and the dirt looked like it was flipped inside-out from the ground. They were going to have to do some massive repairs to this thing before the chuunin exams start. Sighing in disappointment for missing the exams, I was about to hop off the seat, but a familiar shade of dark hair barely hidden behind the blue umbrella caught my eye. There's only one woman I knew in Konoha that could have that beautiful shade of violet in her long hair.

"Hinata!" I tried to yell over the crowd as I jumped down and made my way over to her. The pearl-eyed woman turned around and skimmed the crowd for several seconds before her eyes landed on me.

"Sakura!" exclaimed the Hyuuga as her smile widened, "You made it!"

I ignored the way she shyly averted her eyes when she studied my attire and, to my bitter annoyance, what was _underneath _it.

"Erm…not really," I responded sheepishly, "I just got here. I was released from the hospital about ten minutes ago."

The pretty kunoichi nodded and turned her head towards the demolished grounds. "That's a shame, you missed an awesome fight between Naruto-kun and Sasuke."

Lifting the handle, Hinata gestured me to come underneath her umbrella and I stepped closer to her without a second thought.

"So I assume they were the ones that pulverized the field." I said, watching the long-haired Hyuuga zip up her jonin vest.

"Yes," she replied in her soft voice as she took off her shawl and draped it over my shoulders, "they had to pull them apart and stop the fight because they went way over the time limit."

"Thanks," I replied before I smirked and shook my head, "Heh,...they'll never change."

Hinata giggled at my remark. "No. They never will."

After conversing for several more minutes, both of us ran out of subjects to talk about, so I finally decided to bring up the issue on hand.

"So where are they now?" I asked as I searched the torn-up grounds for my two teammates.

The Byakugan user pointed towards the opening junction in the wall. "They went somewhere in there with Hokage-sama and the other ANBU members to discuss the results…I'm sure they'll come out sometime soon."

Just like the petite, but curvy woman, predicted, many participants who took the ANBU exams started to pour out of the opening. By looking at their expressions, I could easily tell who made it into the elite ANBU and who didn't. Before long, the number of shinobi exiting started to lessen, and I started to grow worried. Right when I was about to question the dark-haired female, I spotted two broad and beaten figures emerging from the entranceway.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata cried out as her fiancé's head snapped up to her.

Leaving behind the Uchiha prodigy, the knucklehead ninja speedily climbed up the wall, picked up his blushing fiancée, who handed her umbrella to me before being swept away, and twirled her around before giving her a bone-crushing hug.

"We did it, Hinata-chan! We're officially ANBU!"

"Congratulations!" Hinata gushed as she returned Naruto's embrace. Before she could say anything else, the excited blonde pulled in his future wife for a fiery kiss.

_Awww. The classical kiss in the rain. How romantic!_

Trying to give the couple privacy, I turned my attention towards Sasuke, who had just climbed up the wall. For a few seconds, I internally debated whether or not to go up and hug him, but then I decided not to, knowing how grouchy he can get when it comes to physical contact.

"Congratulations, Sasuke." I stated calmly as I smiled at him and tightened my grip around the handle.

The handsome male's inky orbs zipped to me and eyed me for several seconds before acknowledging my praise with a curt nod. After he took in my appearance, the stuck-up Uchiha gave me a disgusted look before scoffing and turning his attention to Naruto.

_Che…Ill-mannered jackass._

Deciding to not let the his rude gestures get to me, I turned my entire attention back to Naruto, who was rushing toward me with his arms spread wide.

"No wait, Naruto!" I cried as I waved one hand in front of me.

_Tch. As if that will stop him._

"Sakura-chan!" roared the muscular male as he snagged my smaller frame into a bear hug. I felt him squeeze my ribs and it made me uncomfortable.

Once he released me, I straightened my outfit and finally gazed into my teammate's sapphire eyes.

"Congrats, Naruto!" I cheered, "I'm so glad you passed! You have no idea how happy I am for you!"

Naruto looked like he was going to say something else but hesitated as he checked out my uniform.

"What the hell are you wearing!?" questioned the whiskered blonde loudly as his eyes roamed my body, "You're too young to be wearing something like that."

Letting out a sigh, I pushed back a few loose strands that were in my face, "It was a requirement to wear this while taking the exam," I explained, gesturing to the tight white dress, "Satozumi said that 'all medics must always dress professionally if they ever wish to enter into the field'."

After a few moments, Naruto burst out in laughter, leaving me to stare at him in irritation.

"Ok," I stated roughly, trying to shout over my friend's cackling, "I know white isn't my color, but at least it covers up certain body parts,…although I feel my legs are a little exposed…" I trailed off, looking down at my nicely-shaped legs.

Once Naruto stopped his chuckles, his azure eyes snapped up to me, "Oh no," he started with a smirk, "I was referring to this."

In less than a second, Naruto's quick hands pulled on my bra's elastic strap and released it, letting it snap loudly against my skin. As a reaction, I slapped away his hand and held my other hand protectively over my shoulder. I felt my face heat up in embarrassment as I heard Naruto's piercing laughter echo throughout the arena along with Hinata's giggles. Even Mr. Grumpy Pants was amused, because the redder I turned, the wider his smirk grew.

"Naruto, you jackass!" I shrieked as I gripped the handle with two hands and raised the colossal thing over my head.

"Ack! Wait, Sakura-chan! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-!"

"Shut it!"

I showed no mercy as I whacked him several times across the face.

_Hmph. I never thought I'd live to see the day when an ANBU member gets beaten up by an umbrella._

_To be continued…_

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_**A/N: **_**That's the end of chapter one! Yippee! I hoped everyone enjoyed it!**

**Please remember to review. The more I receive, the more motivated I am to update. Chapter Eight of **_**ANBU **_**should be up soon, but don't get your hopes up too high because I have no idea when it will be posted.**

**See you in the next chapter!XD**


	2. Chapter 2

**Dear Readers,**

**I'm sorry that this isn't a new chapter but I needed to let you know that I'm revising two of my stories, _ANBU_ and _Left Behind_, for the sake of my conscience. Yeah, I know, lame excuse, but they really have been bothering me and if I don't do them now they will never be done.**

**My reasons for not updating in a while? Well, right now I'm too tired to talk about it…but lets just say it has been a LONG year.**

**If you want to know what's going on, I would suggest you all to check the status of my stories on my (well, our) profile. I try to keep it updated whenever I've finished editing a chapter.**

**Whether you want to reread the edited chapters or not is entirely up to you. However, as the author, I _highly _suggest that you do so because it may have some new material that has never been mentioned before. Also, you might want to reread it to refresh your memory.**

**I will post a new chapter to whichever story I feel like working on whenever I'm done with editing all the chapters.**

**Thanks for being patient.**

**~twinzees**


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